I dont understand “not looking back” comments, even not troll ones. Why not looking back? your current gear cant be perfect, and we are in a period in this industry’s history that any of its players could suddenly announce a killer product, even most conservative of them

Eric Duminil

I deeply love my X100s, but I also happen to love my D700 & 85 1.4

Big Al

I hate the Fuji UI.

Eric Duminil

What do you hate exactly?
Once you customized your RAWs/JPEGs to look exactly like you want them to, you get all the most important config via dials, without having to leave your eye out of the viewfinder.

big al

The user interface. I’ve sent back a Fuji X20 as the controls were a complete mess. Before that, I had a Lumix LX7; the controls were laid out in a systematic and sensible way. Not so on the X20. BUttons all over the place, messy, incoherent menus and settings. Spinny wheel the flew around the moment you grab the camera. Disaster. It was a useful lesson though, as I had been considering more expensive Fuji models like X Pro 1.

I’ll assign the first 3. With a dedicated ISO button I may avoid Auto-ISO (unlike on my DSLRs) and/or I’ll also go with Auto-800 with wider lenses sometimes but if I need to go higher set 1600, 3200, and 6400NR manually as and when needed.

I like that the camera has a decently placed AF-LAE-L button. The Vari-angle monitor and touch screen appear to be nice bonuses. Touch screen looks useful in playback and live view mode particularly. With regard to buttons, I’m tired of cameras allowing only certain choices for certain buttons, let me re-assign a Qual button to whatever function I want, and let me assign U1/U4 to whatever buttons I want thank you very much. And I’m perfectly capable of programming my own Auto-ISO choices if Nikon would just let me.

I realize I’m gambling there is not going to be a massive price-drop by Autumn/Xmas, I may yet live to regret getting the V3 kit now. But I plan to do a lot of still and video shooting this summer starting right away. If it drops $200, I don’t care. If it drops $400, then yeah that will hurt 😉

Eric Calabros

That would be great to see your taken by V3 images as a guest post here

KnightPhoto

At minimum I’ll be posting over on Nikonians.Org

Bit of a crapshoot whether my V3/70-300 will arrive in time for two trips I have planned for April 16 (not I guess) and May 5 (hope so).

PhotoAl

I think Nikon learned from their mistake of producing too many V1’s. The V2’s price has only dropped $50 in the US after more than a year of it coming out so I can’t imagine a quick price drop on the V3. It could happen, but I think the more likely thing would be Nikon to offer a body only option to lower the price and entice current V1/V2 users to upgrade. Anyway, the V3 looks like it’s going to be a great/fun camera with enough customization to make shooting with it even better than the V2. Enjoy!

KnightPhoto

Al, I think your point is valid. Heck the Coolpix A is still $1,097 to this day!

Another example is the D4 and D800. Here in Canada the former sold at it’s full original price up until the the D4S announcement, at which point there was some modest discounting, but limited availability. The D800 currently is at 6.7% discount from original. It may be that Nikon is, in some areas at least, able to stick to their pricing guns.

Spy Black

Probably no pre-orders coming in, so they’re getting desperate.

Eric Calabros

many years ago in Baghdad, people saw a young man in a corner of bazaar, selling his mother! someone asked him How you can sell your mother? He said: dont worry, I price her too high that nobody can afford!

Neopulse

Apparently Hasselblad can get away with that though :-/

whisky

this will give Nikon a pathway to drop the price below $1,000 once they ditch the FT-1 from the package. in the NAB video posted earlier, the Nikon demonstrator appeared uncomfortable stating the price of the full package online — even suggesting he didn’t know it.

my take on this is Nikon has clearly gotten the message consumers don’t value the V3 as highly as Nikon does, and price adjustments may need to be forthcoming. JMO.

Aeroengineer

Thanks, Admin. Decided to peruse – thought maybe I could convince myself that the camera is more desirable than the specs and pricing suggest. Then I read this: “Remove the viewfinder when it is not in use. If the viewfinder is attached, the shocks and vibration to which the camera may be exposed during transport or when placed in a bag could damage the camera or viewfinder.” And you have to affix tiny covers on both to prevent damage to the contacts. OK, that is the final nail in the coffin. Oh, wait, maybe I could arc weld the viewfinder to the body?

Naval Gunfire

Manuals for consumer electronics are full of suggestions like that, seen some corkers over the years.

Chimphappyhour

Yeah, as Naval Gunfire said, this is Nikon covering their butt against those who don’t take reasonable care of their gear. I have no doubts that I could carry this camera in a bag with the viewfinder attached but I also don’t throw my stuff around.

Aeroengineer

Indeed! I’m sure everyone will read the first 11 pages of safety warnings; they make for a thrilling read. As a matter of useless speculation on a rainy afternoon, I wonder how many mount/dismount cycles the EVF and accessory mount are designed to withstand?

Chris Weller

I still don’t see any specs for the refresh rate of the EVF. To me, that is a critical spec for this system. If you want to use the 70-300 for tracking sports or wildlife, you better have a great evf. The resolution is there, but I fear the refresh rate will ruin the experience.

Chris Weller

Also, a real shame on the kit and pricing. I already have an FT-1, I already have a 10-30 and don’t really need the PD. I won’t order this camera at this price and pay for a bunch of stuff I don’t need. Sell the camera for $799 with the grip and EVF and I’d buy it.

whisky

Henry’s, in Canada, has listed the V3 body only (no EVF, no grip, no lens) for $899 Can. makes the rest of the stuff you don’t need look like a bargain.